SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This study examines how boyhood is rendered im/perceptible via the infamous social media influencer Andrew Tate, in response to testimonies of teachers that attest to his influence on boys’ adoption of misogynistic, anti-feminist and sexist behaviour. Alongside the assemblage of discourses about Tate, we examine videos featuring him on the social network, a TikTok. Somewhat in contrast to the prevailing narrative that Tate’s influence on and appeal to boys is confined to misogyny, much of the content featuring him centred on narratives of self-improvement, mental health, resilience and upward mobility. Negative framings or outright degradation of women – while present in some content – appeared within a much wider context in which factors ranging from highly neoliberal aspiration, harshly conservative and traditional gender roles for men and women, pseudoscientific claims about evolutionary biology and extravagant consumerist lifestyles were presented as a single belief system. We conclude that the cultural individualism encouraged and exacerbated by neoliberalism in the English-speaking developed world act as a key element in the life of boys and young men anticipating their transition to adulthood, raising questions for the opportunities that this case may offer for the development of forms of feminism that include boys.